The SAVE Act: The Government’s Attempt to Strip away Citizen’s Voting Rights

Why Should the Students of BHS Care?:

The Save Act would place more requirements for any citizen to register to vote, making the process more tiring for voters rather than the elected officials overseeing the process. As most Seniors should be registering soon or have already its important to understand the implications of this Act and how not only it can cause needless complications to have your voice be heard, but has blatant discrimination against certain groups.

Background:

Also known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, the bill was first proposed in Congress in May 2024 by the Republican Party. Currently, it’s still being circulated in the legislation system-So this proposed Act becoming law has not been absolute as of yet.

What?

So, in order to register to vote you MUST show your birth certificate or a valid passport in person under the SAVE Act, and this will be enforced in every state. Its purpose on the surface is to add extra steps in the registration process to ensure only citizens will vote.

For reference, New Hampshire currently requires any proof of citizenship, and this does include a birth certificate and passport, but there are many other options such as Photo ID or drivers licence. Many other states do something similar.

Why is this discriminatory?

Requiring to prove citizenship in person eliminates people living in rural areas and people with disabilities. Ironically, the Act does give the option to vote through the mail if you first submit the necessary documents stated above in person in order to have that option.

Also, most people in rural areas don’t even have the income to acquire a passport, statistics show that 1/5 Americans with a yearly income of under $50,000 have a valid passport (League of Women Voters). As, If you didn’t know, a passport requires a $160 fee as well as tedious busy work and documentation that needs to be filled out. So, putting that into perspective, the passport option isn’t a good one for 146 million Americans nationwide. Yes, around 1/3 of the entirety of the US population probably cannot vote under the Save Act.

What about the alternative? Well, a birth certificate is even more improbable for many people, specifically women. A birth certificate is not what many citizens have on hand, but more importantly, 69 million women couldn’t use a birth certificate as many women change their legal last name after getting married. There is no solution for this stated in the Save Act, a huge oversight that should definitely be fixed. Unfortunately, many people including myself believe that these “oversights” are actually intentional. It cannot be coincidental that people who are lower in society would be most affected by this law over the rich white men who have proposed this law to Congress.

What can I Do?

Here you can petition against the Act becoming law, “Vote NO to The Save Act”